Western Music vs Indian Music

We all know music ahs no boundries and have lot of things in common. There may be different terminologies or different methodologies. For example we have used notes with Indian names in these videos.

What is Music & what is purpose of Music?

What is Music ?

In the most general of terms, music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content.

For me it is self exploration and self expression.

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What is purpose of Music ?

All the sorrows, difficulties and problems can only exist in the dimension of time. If we can escape dimension of time even for few moments, we forget our problems and sorrows for that period of time and start fresh.

It can elevate mood or feel relived after the expression of emotions is done in creative outlets.

Music is a outlet to express emotions, it plays a substantial role in culture, it provides entertainment, it gives people an outlet to be creative, it helps us understand beauty, and it has value on its own. 

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How to remember notes when writing or reading Notations

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How to remember notes when writing or reading Notations.

In the picture below left Hand notes called bass Clef notes and right hand notes called treble clef notes.

For treble clef, notes on the lines can be remembered as Each Good Boy Does Fine  and notes between the lines can be remembered as F A C E

For bass clef,  notes on the lines can be remembered as 

Good Boys Do Fine Always and notes between the lines can be remembered as  All Cows Eat Grass

Both clefs together are known as Grand Staff.

Basics of Music

How does music works as a brief escape ??

The beat patterns are like a blank page that we fill colors in form of other instrumental notes.

Beat count goes like this 1 2 3 4  and repeats 1 2 3 4 ,1 2 3 4 

In music beat is the measure of time. Now let us consider the first line of song is 8 beat long

the second will  also fit in that 8 beat long

1 2 3 4  1 2 3 4  1 2 3 4

************  4 beat breathing room

1 2 3 4  1 2 3 4  1 2 3 4

************  4 beat breathing room

for example if lyrics of first lines start at  count 1 and completes at 4th beat of second set, third set of 4 beats is breathing space.

the second line will also start at count 1 after 4th beat of third set.

since there are 12 beats ,you can have breathing room of 4 beats for lyrics or there could be many other ways of composing your song.

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There are two main parts of Music that are easily distinguishable 

1. Vocal
2.  Instrumental

To understand instrumental music it is better to further divide in two main sections 

1. Percussion’s :

Musical instruments played by striking with the hand or with a handheld or pedal-operated stick or beater, or by shaking, including drums, cymbals, xylophones, gongs, bells, and rattles  

2. Other Instruments  like wind instruments such as Brass( trumpet, French horn, trombone, and the tuba. )   String (guitar, electric bass, violin, viola, cello, double bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele, and harp. )  and few more.

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How Instrumental Music works ?

There are main 7 notes 

Western Music has   “C D E F G A B ” notes with total 12 variations 12 Variations are C  C# (D b)  D  D# (Eb)  E   F  F# (gb)  G  G# (Ab)  A  A# (Bb) B 

flats denoted in brackets are to mention same black key has two names . C# is also D flat in other words a half  note down the scale is flat and a half note up the scale is sharp.

Indian Music has  same notes with different names

Seven notes “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni “

and 12 variations are 

Sa  (Re komal ) Re  (Ga Komal ) Ga  Ma (Ma Teever) Pa   (Dha Komal) Dha  ( Ni  koaml ) Ni 

Sa  and Pa are fixed that means no variations for Sa and Pa.